2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The development of innovative experimental modules is an important requirement in the modernization of undergraduate engineering programs. Unit operations laboratories in chemical engineering are typically designed to incorporate benchtop- and pilot-scale experimentation for students in their junior and senior years to strengthen concepts on material and energy balances, fluid mechanics, heat and mass transfer, chemical kinetics, and other related topics. While the traditional scale-up approach used in chemical engineering laboratories helps to prepare students that will go into the manufacturing industry, the nature and scale of traditional experimentation in unit operations laboratories does not come without limitations. Students are often constrained to explore multiple experimental designs, modify equipment configurations, or even conduct experiments outside the lab. The latter was a serious limitation during the sudden migration to online instruction due to COVID-19 in several institutions. To tackle these challenges, miniaturized experimental kits were created for online instruction of Unit Operations Lab 1 in 2020. Using 3D-printing technology, small sensors and flow components, and Arduino-based microprocessors, kits were designed to satisfy criteria such as modularity, cost-effectiveness, versatility, ease of use, and safety. Upon resumption to fully in-person labs, some of these kits were combined with existing pilot-scale experiments, thus creating modules with mixed experimentation scales that have been used for the last three semesters. Even though functional and highly attractive from the perspective of innovative engineering education, the initial design and configuration of these kits face some challenges associated to complex and time-consuming electrical connections, the lack of a robust control software, imprecise flow control, and restrictions for subsequent experimental expansions. For this reason, the present work pursues the optimization, expansion, and consolidation of individual kits into a chemical engineering lab-on-a-kit. These kits include experiments on fluid flow, pump and valve characterization, heat exchangers, fixed bed columns, and chemical reactors; all of them at the mini scale. Current efforts involve the design of an integrated circuit to increase the organization of electrical components thus eliminating the need for individual circuits for each kit. This will in turn allow for the incorporation of additional sensors and controllers to further expand the functionality of kits including the ability to test more temperatures and concentrations, flow in laminar or turbulent regime, and other controllable factors for multiple experimental designs. The development of a centralized, single Arduino controller package to operate sensors and peripheral devices while allowing for real-time data monitoring/acquisition is also an important optimization objective. This in-progress multidisciplinary work involves the contribution of undergraduate students, coaches, and advisors of various fields such as chemical engineering, electrical engineering, and computer sciences as a part of a Capstone design project looking for innovations on undergraduate engineering education. Furthermore, not only will the chemical engineering lab-on-a-kit contribute to modernize unit operations laboratories, but it will also bring opportunities to showcase engineering programs via K-12 experimental demonstrations, summer camps, and other outreach initiatives.